The Beginning Series: Book Eight
by Aislyn Marie
Summary: *COMPLETE* Tobias' non-Yeerk cousin is coming down to visit Tobias' family. After coming to the conclusion that she has absolutely nothing to do with the Yeerks, Tobias introduces her to his friends and they proceed to have a very peaceful, Yeerkless time. Tobias and the other Animorphs face so few Yeerks that they aren't even mentioned in this story. Seriously. Mini-book. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Finally, chapter eight is here. I've been waiting forever for this, seriously.**

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**Like I said, there will be no extras for this book since it's a mini-book. It will be nine chapters long plus the preview for the next chapter. But, anyone who reviews to a chapter will get half a point towards their score in Book Nine. I know it doesn't seem like much, but if you review to all nine chapters (the preview doesn't count) then you get five points because I'll be rounding up. So it might be useful to you, especially to anyone who decides they want to be in first place.**

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**Enjoy the Tobias!**

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Hey, I'm Tobias. You may know me from Animorphs, the most amazing book series of all time. Of course, _I_ don't know that. How could I, a character from a book series, know about the book series itself? Simple. I don't. So why are we still talking about this?

So, I'm Tobias. One time me and my friends met an alien that gave us super awesome morphing abilities so we could save the world. But right now I'm focusing my attention on something way more important.

Math. Dreadful, dreadful math.

"Marco, I need help. What's the answer to this question?"

I held my math paper in front of Marco's face. Marco is one of my very good friends. He also has the ability to morph because he was _there_. Jeez, _GO BACK_ and just read the earlier stuff, would you?

Anyway, Marco couldn't see the paper very well. Maybe it was too close. He did go a bit cross-eyed. "Uh."

Needless to say, Marco isn't very good at math. But let's face it, who's _really_ good at math?

I can tell you who's really not good at math. Jake. Remember this:

_Jake made a "who knows?" face. "I figure this ship is going like, what, twenty miles per hour? Figure an hour, and that puts us twenty miles out, right?_

So dumb. It's a good thing he's cute.

Like me. "And Marco."

"What?"

I guess I should probably think of something now. I mean, I'm in math class. The last thing you guys want to hear me talk about is math class. We're not even doing anything, we're just sitting here doing boring worksheets. So I'll think about something interesting.

Oh, well, a couple days ago I found out that Andalites eat with their feet. How cool is that?

Also, I have many cats. My favourite cats are Toadstool and Jake. Yeah, I named my cat Jake. He's really cool. But not that long ago I got this new kitten. I found him and brought him home without asking my parents first. Sure, that was probably disrepectful. But he was so homeless and he's way better then all my other cats because he's a _kitten_. I named him Dude. He's as cool as his name implies.

What else? Uh, maybe I should talk about something important?

Okay, so, there's a bunch of us in our crazy morphing people - AKA Animorphs - group. There's me, obviously, Jake, Marco, Rachel, Cassie and Ax. Maybe one more...

Well, Jake is our leader. He's a good leader, too, even if he's seriously lacking any good math skills. He's my best friend and it's hard to remember anything he likes because his most interesting quality is that his friends are fun. That was mean. Sorry, Jake.

Next is Marco. He's smart. That's all. He's just smart. And shy, I guess. But that's not really a good thing even if it is cute. He's never really done anything to ever help the team at all. His morphing is messed up, too. Like, really. We should probably kick him off the team, except maybe not because that would be mean. Sorry, Marco.

Rachel is just... she's Rachel. She's pretty and brave and smart, but other than that. Pfft, who needs beauty? Who needs those other things? No one. She's not even the prettiest (Jake is), or the bravest (I am) or the smartest (Marco). So, really, she's useless to the team, too. Sorry, Rachel. That was mean.

Cassie. Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. Cassie knows a lot about animals. Her parents are both vets and so they've taught her a lot. Plus she has the barn which has a bunch of animals for morphing in it. So... yeah, I don't really have anything mean to say about Cassie. Wait! She's short. Like, Marco and Gilberto short. Maybe taller... Still. Sorry, Cassie.

Ax is short for Aodifjosidfj-Esoijfosidjfoisdjfosidjf-Isofdosd. He's an alien, which makes him way awesome. Unfortunately, he's also weird and has a long name no one can remember. So right away that gives him negative points. I don't know why he's on the team, really. I mean, it's mean, so sorry Axi. But seriously. Change your name.

Okay, I honestly feel like there should be someone else... but I can't remember who.

WAIT, I said his name already. Gilberto. Gil for short, if you're Marco, Gilbert for short if you're not. Gilby, if you're me and don't follow the rules because of being too gangster.

Gilby is pretty much a huge jerk. I'm not sorry, Gilby. You know it's true.

Honestly, though. My friends are great. There aren't words to describe how I feel about them. I just like them a lot. If I were to come up with a word to explain my feelings I think I would call it... love.

Yes. Love. Copyright to me. Love.

That's all I have to say for now. I wasted an entire chapter talking about my friends and cats and Andalite feet. Hoofs. They have hoofs. Hooves? Whatever, gramer isnt tht imotint.

So, yeah. Chapter over. Go home now.

Wait. Oh. My. God. I kind of forgot one huge thing.

The alien, Noorlin, gave us the ability to change into animals because the Earth is being invaded by other aliens called Yeerks.

Okay. Now go home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, another chapter. Enjoy!**

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Once Marco and I were able escape - uh, I mean, once math was over, Marco and I walked down the hall together. We usually walk to our lockers together after math, since his locker is on the way to mine.

"Finally that's over," I commented. "Don't you hate math?"

"I'm starting to," he muttered, not referring to anything in particular and certainly isn't talking about my habit of not bothering him at all ever during class.

I shrugged and pulled out my phone. Marco looked at me because he gets confused when people do things we wouldn't normally do. He would give Gilby that look if he gave someone a compliment, he'd give Cassie and Rachel those looks if they came to school dressed as each other, he'd give Jake that look if he was able of doing basic math correctly and he would give Axi that look if he started a Yeerk alliance... thing.

Me, being the sort of person who stays within the norm, said, "What?"

Marco huffed. "Usually you make conversation the entire walk to my locker. Why are you checking your phone?"

Aw, he's jealous. "Heh. My dad said he might send me a message sometime today. Sweet, he already sent it, too."

"What does it say?" Marco asked.

It said, 'wil b hom early pickin up ur buz form airprt.'

"Uh, it says 'Wilby horn early picking up your buzz form airport'. I think." I showed Marco in hopes that he spoke parent.

"Will be, not wilby. Also, that's an 'm', Tobias."

"Really?" I looked. "Ooooooh. 'Will be home.' What does he mean by buzz, though?"

I typed out a reply. 'Buz? What?'

"I hope he doesn't mean he's picking up a bunch of bees from the airport," I told Marco. "I don't think I have any bees and I certainly didn't ask any."

"That seems unlikely," he replied.

I nodded. "True. Bees don't need to take planes, they can fly."

"... What? No, I meant-"

"Oops, there's your locker. Bye, Marco!"

I ran off down the hall to get to my locker. Blah blah blah, class. Blah blah blah, class over. Blah blah blah, walking down the hall with Jake.

"-then Tom tells me that The Sharing is having another one of those barbeques at the beach," Jake was saying.

"Cool," I said, once again pulling out my phone. I really wanted to know whether or not my dad was getting me bees.

"... Are you listening to me?" Jake asked.

"Yes," I lied.

"What did I just say th-"

"Tobias!" a maniac named Marco yelled, nearly knocking Jake off his feet with his need to stand next to me.

"Hey!" Jake shouted.

"Sorry, Jake." Marco took a moment to catch his breath.

Jake looked at Marco because he gets confused when people do things we wouldn't normally do. He would give Gilby that look if he gave someone a compliment, he'd give Cassie and Rachel those looks if they came to school dressed as each other, he'd give Axi that look if he wanted to start a Yeerk alliance group (I picked a word for it during class) and he apparently gives Marco that look for wanting to talk to one of his favourite people. Jerk.

I mean, sure, Marco doesn't usually run around yelling and knocking people over. Should he judge him for that? No.

"I never got to finish what I was saying," Marco explained.

"Hm? When?"

"Are you serious? I said 'That seems unlikely.' You said 'True. Bees don't need to take planes, they can fly.' But I never got a changed to say that I meant that it was unlikely because why would your dad ever get you bees of all things?"

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, that's a good point. What could he have meant by buzz, then?"

Marco shrugged.

"Right," Jake said. "I'm just going to go to lunch now since I have no idea what you two are talking about."

"Bye," Marco said. The way he said it was less 'oh, okay, see you later' and more 'I am dismissing you.' I swear, that's what I got from that 'bye'.

"Oh, bye, Jake!" I yelled to him. He already started to walk away and I almost forgot to say bye to him. I'm a good friend. "Okay, anyway." I checked my phone to see if my dad replied to my text.

'i ment cuz'

"Oh, cuz. Like, my cousin," I said, nodding and wondering why my dad couldn't type on a phone but could type, like, one-hundred plus words a minute on a regular keyboard. "Wait, he's picking my cousin up from the airport? She's coming to visit? Sweet!"

I did a little dance to celebrate. Marco looked embarrassed, but I can't imagine why.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three. Early because sometimes I might post chapters before I go to bed.**

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**I forgot to mention in the first two chapters that I have another thing I'm going to be putting into this story before the preview. Well, the deleted scenes, I guess. I utterly failed at writing this the first time and a bunch of stuff got taken out from me either not liking it enough for the story or it not fitting into it once I rewrote the beginning parts. So I decided to save them and share them with you guys. **

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**Enjoy!**

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After I was done dancing, Marco the Embarrassed and I went to lunch. Since this story is going to have nothing at all to do with Yeerks (at all, meaning that this isn't foreshadowing) and everything to do with daily life, I'm going to tell you how lunch works.

Some people buy their lunch, some people bring their lunch from home, some people get fed by their brother because they lack independence. I bring my lunch from home because the food at school tastes like socks. I don't know this from experience since I haven't eaten any socks. You know, recently.

Already at the table were Jake the Leader, Rachel the Beautiful, Cassie the Awesome and Gilby.

"I just had a thought," I said seriously right after I sat down. "Maybe we should consider, you know, making more friends."

"Having you as a friend is too many friends," Gilby said. "Thanks," he said to Marco who just handed him his lunch he's incapable of making himself.

"I was just interrupted," Jake said. "Again."

"Does this mean we're friends?" I asked Gilby, ignoring Jake completely.

He glared at me. "No."

I shrugged. "Once Jake and Marco abandon us, we'll totally become friends."

"Jackass."

"Yes. Anyway, I have wonderful news." I paused for dramatic effect. "My cousin is coming to visit."

"Cool," said everyone but Cassie, not caring at all.

"Where is she coming from?" asked Cassie, taking an interest in my life.

"Rebecca," I said. "Oh, I thought you were going to ask me what her name was. It's Rebecca."

"I thought her name was Rachel," Jake said.

"What?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah, what?" I said. "Jake, Rachel is the name of _your_ cousin," I said slowly.

Jake frowned. "No, the last time you talked about your cousin you said her name was Rachel. Before that it was Rose."

"I'm a liar. Everyone should ask me questions about Rebecca to prepare for her arrival."

"Alright," said Jake. "Is her name really Rebecca?"

"Yes."

"Are you lying?"

"Anyone other than Jake should ask me questions about Rebecca. Marco, do you have anything to ask?"

"Hm? Is she cute?" Marco asked before I killed him for thinking my cousin might be cute.

"We have a no cousin dating rule in this group, Marco," I told him.

"You want to date Rachel," Jake LIED.

"Jake, I haven't worked up the courage to ask her out yet. You're ruining my liiiiiiiife. I don't go around telling Cassie you like her."

"You do all the time!" Jake nearly yelled, pretending he (and Cassie) didn't just start blushing like crazy. "You never stop talking about it. You mentioned it just now."

"I have no memory of that so you can't prove that I said it."

"Can we just leave?" Gilby asked Marco. "I don't care about Tobias' stupid fucking cousin. Last thing we need is more people with his messed up DNA running around."

"No, no, stay," I said. "We'll go back to our old conversation and talk about how we're going to be friends once you and your brother stop loving each other an unnatural amount. Seriously, you guys are so close it sort of makes the rest of us uncomfortable." Okay, that's a lie, I find them adorable.

Gilby stood up.

"I'm not going anywhere," Marco told him. "Tobias never answered my question."

"She's very ugly," I told him.

"How ugly on a scale of one to ten?" Gilby asked, sitting back down since he realized Marco was a secret super pervert who was more interested in his friend's cousin than how much his brother didn't want to be around other people. "Ten being the ugliest, one being Rachel."

Everyone stopped eating to stare at Gilby.

"What?" he demanded.

"Was that a compliment?" Rachel asked, shocked. "I'm taking it as a compliment."

"Fuck. Whatever."

Jake shook his head. "This must be a dream. No way this is real life," he said. "First Marco runs through the halls screaming, then he nearly knocks me over and then he and Tobias start going on about bees. Now this?"

Everyone looked at Marco to give him the same look they were just giving Gilby.

"W-what?" he stuttered. "He - I - I wasn't... s-stop it! Gil, say something else nice so they'll stop."

"Okay," said Gil. "Jake is smart."

"... Heheheh."

"Shut up, Tobias."

Blah blah blah, lunch ended and we all continued our day as we usually did. Nothing bad or Yeerk related happened. I didn't get in trouble for talking in class, though I did get in trouble for being distracting. It takes a lot of skill to distract an entire class without saying a single word.

Since my cousin, who has nothing to do with Yeerks what-so-ever, was coming to visit, I spent the entire day thinking about whether or not her and my friends would get along and other non-Yeerk things.

Like non-Yeerk pasta. I like pasta. I like the elbow shaped kind the best, and I like putting cheese on my pasta. You know what I don't put on my pasta? Yeerks. You know how I know I won't be putting Yeerks on my pasta anytime soon? Because nothing about this story (pretend the fourth wall didn't just get destroyed like that time Rachel broke Marco's church) is going to be Yeerk related. In fact, the Yeerks will be mentioned so little that you'll forget that they even exist.

Notice how I haven't mentioned the Yeerks even once this entire story.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello. This would have been up earlier but I actually wasn't home. I was with my parents, which is weird because they've been split up since before I can remember. Yes. I've never been shopping with both of them at the same time before and it was strange. Not bad, just strange.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

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At the end of the day I was super excited. No, not because my cousin was visiting and I was happy to see her. For the first time ever, Gilby said bye to me after school without Marco telling him to or giving him an angry look for being rude.

I mean, he still got the angry look because he said 'bye, loser'. I think he's being so nice today because he's in a better mood than usual.

Though that mood seemed to be ruined _slightly_ when he found out that I was coming over later because Marco wanted to meet my ugly cousin.

Okay, there's more I want to say about Rebecca before she's actually in this story. I just need to make some things really, really clear.

Rebecca is my favourite - and only - cousin. I really like her because she's cool even if she didn't get any of the sexy genes that run in my family. But really, half of what I've said about her is a complete lie.

That's right. Assume you know nothing about her. She's just as mysterious as I am, to be honest.

By mysterious, I mean she's a bad liar and what you see is what you get. She has no secrets. None. That is not foreshadowing here, either. When I say she has no secrets, I mean she has no secrets. She's not going to, like, claim to be super powerful or say "I know all about the Animorphs, please let me join", or anything like that. She's not going to figure us out, either. I mean, we all have people hanging around that might find out our secret, but no one ever will.

We'll never get any more Animorphs even if she did randomly figure everything out which is unrealistic and never going to happen. I mean, even if we wanted more people, we don't have the morphing cube. So, I guess, if someone were to find it then I guess we'd have to let them join or let the Yeerks get the cube. But since the blue box is gone, that won't happen. Ever. This also isn't foreshadowing. The cube is definitely gone. I know this because if it weren't gone then I'm sure the author of my universe would have us go and look just in case. But no. Totally gone so we're not even going to try and check.

So neither Rebecca or anyone else is going to join us. I just really want to make that clear. She's just my cousin - not some random character added in to fall in love with Gilby or something, and then join the group and magically know all the solutions and make us super powerful. Not random at all. You remember me mentioning her, right? So, not random. Nothing like that.

Also, just to prove that she's definitely not going to become an Animorph, I'll tell you something about her that you can't ever, EVER know about anyone else.

Her full name. Rebecca Moore.

Okay, that's all. I have nothing _Moore_ to say about that. Heheh. I'm funny.

Anyway, leaving school. Today I got picked up by Linda, who I think I've mentioned before. She's part of the staff at my house (I'm still rich) and usually I get picked up by her since my parents are at work when I get off of school. Though if I asked to get picked up by them instead because I told them, say, Linda is a really bad driver and I'm scared she'll crash or she's just plain crazy, then they would totally pick me up.

Right, plot stuff. We talked a bit on the way to my house as usual. Mostly stupid stuff that she probably wouldn't go along with if my parents didn't pay her to. Or maybe she would because she's known me for ages. Linda might be used to me.

Once we got home I jumped on top of the car and then jumped up to my room. No, that's impossible. I'm a boring human, so I had to use the door.

"Hello," I said to Rebecca once I entered the house and saw her sitting on the stairs near the door.

"That wasn't really what I was expecting," Rebecca admitted, standing up. "I was looking forward to you running towards me in slow motion."

"All you do is complain," I said. I gave her a hug because she's my cousin and I like her. Must I always explain myself to you people? "Anyway, remember those guys I told you about that you think don't exist? Marco and Gilberto?"

"If you tell me they just went out of town I'm going to punch you," Rebecca said meanly.

"This is why I haven't let you in my story until now," I complained, turning back towards the door. "If you're going to be rude to me I'm just going to cut you out of the book. Seriously, though, want meet them?"

"Fine. Maybe you can introduce me to the other people I don't believe exist. I mean, Cassie has a barn filled with a million animals and Rachel is super beautiful? Kind of hard to believe they exist."

I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they believe you exist. I mean, maybe. I keep telling them you live in different states, but I think they believed in you more once I told them you were ugly."

Rebecca gave me a look. I think it was a 'you're stupid' look. "I'm going to ignore the states thing because I'm pretty sure you're being dumb intentionally."

"Right, they don't have states, do they?" I muttered.

"Though, be warned, I will be getting you back for that ugly comment," she continued. "I will laugh at the payback."

"Noooo," I cried dramatically.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's another chapter. Enjoy!**

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I knocked on Marco's (and Gilby's, but who cares about him?) door. I wish I could just walk in like I did at Jake's house, but no one there ever cares if I do that. They'll get mad at me if I did that here.

Although, one time I did break into their house and no one was mad. Maybe I don't have to knock...

Unfortunately, before I could just walk in, Marco the Embarrassed opened the door.

"Hey, Marco who totally exists," I said, giving Rebecca a look. "This is my cousin, Rebecca."

"Wow, he is real," Rebecca said in amazement. "He's as cute as you said he was."

"And you're as ugly as he said you were," Marco the Embarrassed AKA Gilby replied.

"That's rude," I told him. To Rebecca I said, "His name isn't Rude. His name is Gilby."

"I didn't think his name was Rude," Rebecca lied. "I thought his name was Marco, but only because you introduced him wrong."

"It's not my fault they look the same. Have you guys ever tried _not_ being twins?"

"That's a stupid question," Gilby told me the same moment Marco the Embarrassed appeared and said, "Yes."

"Really?" I asked. "How did Gilby take that?"

"Well, it was less to do with trying not to be a twin and more to do with the fact that I almost died when I was being born," Marco said. "Is this Rebecca?"

"Yup! Becca, this is real the real Marco. Marco, this is Rebecca," I introduced sexily. (It's very hard to introduce people and be sexy at the same time, but because of my extremely good genes I am able to do this without much effort.)

"Nice to meet you," Marco said, holding his hand out for Rebecca to shake like a kind, normal, non-Gilby human being.

"Wow, you're way better," Rebecca said, shaking his hand like a kind, normal, non-Gilby human being. "He's as cute as you said he was, eh, Tobias?"

Marco blushed.

"You said that already," I pointed out. "And you said 'eh'."

"Yeah, to the wrong one," Rebecca replied, ignoring the important thing I said to reply to the boring thing. "Gilby called me ugly right after. That's a really weird name, by the way."

Gilby morphed into a gorilla and ripped Rebecca in half. Not really, but he looked like he wanted to. "My name is _Gilberto_. And I called you ugly because you are ugly."

"He's treating me like crap," Rebecca pointed out. "I want to date him."

"What? WHY?" I asked NOT UNDERSTANDING. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm serious," she said seriously. "If we dated I could complain to all my friends about how much of a jerk my boyfriend is, and then ignore all advice to break up with him. Doesn't that sound like a good time?"

"No."

"Never going to happen, bitch," Gilby told her rudely, ignoring my 'stay away from my cousin' super glare. He turned to go back into the house, but paused when he looked at Marco. "Why do you look so disappointed? Are you jealous or something?"

"She wants to date you."

"Jesus, Marco, you can't date every single girl you meet," Gilby said. "Stop trying to."

"I'm not!" Marco lied. "I haven't tried to date Rachel, have I?"

"That's because you're scared of her."

"With good reason, Gil!" Marco cried. How much do you want to bet that he's thinking about that time Rachel broke his church? "Let's just go inside."

"Whatever."

The four of us walked inside. When the twins' backs were turned, Rebecca and I looked at each other. "Told you they were awesome."

"I blame our family's influence."

I nodded. "That would explain a lot. Maybe if we spend your entire visit hanging around Gilby then he'll eventually become as awesome as Marco. That way he'll finally admit that we're friends and agree to hang out with me on a regular basis."

"No, I'm leaving," Gilby said, apparently able to hear our entire conversation even though he shouldn't be able to because even though we're right behind him it was a private, therefore completely silent, conversation. "I'd rather jump off a building then hang out with you two."

"Would you rather jump off a building into a sea of bugs?" I asked.

Gilby glared at me. "No."

I gave Rebecca a thumbs up. If Gilby hates us less than bugs then that totally means us being around him has already started to work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six. A little later than I was planning, but I ended up writing two chapters today and then sort of almost forgot about the updating part.**

**Enjoy!**

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"Then we spent the rest of the day hanging out with Marco and Gilby," I told Jake, completing my story. "Well, okay, Gilby left halfway through and Marco wouldn't let us force him to stay because he said that 'Stop bugging him, guys. You may get to leave whenever you want, but I still share a room with him no matter how moody he gets.' Then Gilby accused him of being more moody than him and then they fought for a while."

"That's nice, Tobias," Jake said, obviously trying to get his work done. "Any reason why you just sat down and acted like 'Then we spent the rest of the day hanging out with Marco and Gilby' _wasn't_ the first thing you said to me?"

"Stop ruining my story," I told him. "Also, something terrible happened while we were there. Do you want me to tell you?"

"No," Jake answered.

"You know how some girls really like jerks for some reason? You know, like Cassie?" I asked.

"Yeah, and Rachel," he added.

"What, who does Rachel like?" I asked, ready to jump off the highest building out of sadness and my ability to over-react.

"You," Jake told me.

"Really? Cool. Anyway, Rebecca is way worse at liking jerks than Cassie and Rachel."

"Marco isn't a jerk," Jake said. "I've heard that he's a really good boyfriend except for the whole dating the entire female population of our school thing."

"Yes, Marco is very nice. I was actually talking about Gilby. She likes Gilby and confessed that she liked him right after she pointed out how mean he is."

"Why?" Jake asked, also not understanding.

I just shrugged and then died when I saw Rebecca with a certain someone.

Okay, first, I did not bring Rebecca to school with me so she must be here for her evil doings. Second, that 'certain someone' wasn't Gilby. No, she was with Rachel. She must be telling extremely embarrassing stories about me. Or telling her all the bad things I've said about Rachel, which would be weird because I haven't said anything bad about Rachel at all.

"Hey, guys, it's weird that you're together considering you've never met before," I said casually (sort of).

Rachel gave me an angry look and I panicked. "When Jake was little he collected some rabbit poop thinking they were 'earth marbles'."

"What?" said Rachel.

"Tobias!" Jake yelled. "Why?"

"Rachel looked mad at me and I panicked," I admitted.

"No worries," Rebecca said. "I just thought she deserved to know the truth about us."

"What truth?" asked me (Tobias).

"You know, that even though you've been flirting with her for ages that you have a girlfriend and that I was supposed to tell everyone I was your cousin to avoid tension."

There a moment of silence. Jake looked at me like he believed everything Rebecca just said.

"Just kidding," Rebecca said. "I was going to let you guys believe that until I left, but calling me ugly isn't that big of a deal, right, Tobias?"

"That was so mean," I told her. "If you knew how to laugh, you'd probably be laughing at me."

"Wait, so you really are his cousin?" Rachel asked. "Tobias, your entire family is crazy. I'm going to go find Cassie."

"I should just drop out of school," Jake said, looking at his work that wasn't even close to being done because of all the rude people who's name starts with 'R's that keep appearing to distract him.

"Okay. I'll see you later, Tobias. Oh, before I go there's something I want to ask you." Rebecca sat down across from me and leaned forward so no one else could hear. Except Jake... and everyone else who was close enough. "Listen, can you cover for me tonight?"

"That depands on what you mean," I replied smartly.

"I don't know. Hang out with one of your friends and tell your parents that I was with you." Rebecca shrugged.

"Where will you really be?" I asked.

"I wanted to check out The Sharing here," Rebecca said.

Oh, crap. I looked at Jake, hoping that he would have a moment of being smart and rescue me.

"Oh, you're in The Sharing?" he said, sounding like he wasn't freaking out like I was. "My brother is a full member."

"Really?" Rebecca asked, looking surprised. "Cool. Me, too. Maybe I'll see him there." Then to me she said, "So, can you cover for me? I know how your parents are about that group. You'd think it was a cult or something the way they react to it."

"Yes," I said. "I mean, yeah, sure. Have fun."

"Thanks, Tobias," Rebecca said. "See you later. It's nice to meet you, uh... well, Tobias never told me your name so I'm just going to assume you're Jake."

Jake and I both said bye to Rebecca. Once she was gone we exchanged a very dramatic look.

"So much for that whole Yeerk-free thing," I muttered. "Sorry, readers."

"... Okay," Jake said.


	7. Chapter 7

**It seems that I've effectively fooled all of you into thinking that this story wasn't going to have any Yeerks in it. I bet you all feel extremely silly now that the truth has been revealed. Don't feel too bad, though. I wouldn't have seen it coming, either. Maybe I should have given you guys more hints?**

**Enjoy!**

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Later that same day we all met in Cassie's barn. Everyone was there just hanging out (except Axi), waiting for whatever terrible news we were all there to hear.

"What happened to your cousin, Tobias?" Rachel asked me. "Rebecca, was it?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Uh, that's sort of why we're here. See, she's with us."

"Pretty sure she's not, dumbass," Gilby said rudely. "Unless she can morph."

"She can't," I told him. "Actually, she's not really with us. But if my dad asks you, she is."

"Because we talk all the time."

"Gil," Jake said. "This is actually serious. Tobias is telling his dad that Rebecca is here because she went to the Sharing."

"How many fucking times do I have to say not to call me that, jackass?" Gilby said. "Why does your cousin even care if your dad knows she went to the Sharing?"

"He really doesn't like it," I replied, shrugging. "But, uh... she's a full member."

Rachel put her hand on my shoulder. "Sorry, Tobias."

"You're sure?" Marco asked. "That's too bad."

Gilby snorted. "Right, because you actually care. You're just disappointed because you can't date her now."

"That's not true," Marco argued.

"You would date her?"

"W-what? N-no! I mean, I-I... no."

"Jesus, Marco. You would date her!" Gilby accused. "You are the biggest dumbass I've ever met, seriously. You realize she has a fucking _alien_ in her _brain_, right? Why don't you just go date Tom or whatever Jake's ugly brother's name is."

"No, that's gross," Marco replied.

"Yeah, because he's got an alien in his brain."

"Actually, I was referring to the fact that he's a guy more than an alien, Gil."

"Very nice, Marco," I snapped. "Your homophobe is showing."

"Tobias-" Jake started.

"Look, Marco," I interrupted. "I'm sorry that my cousin being a slave in her own head is so inconvient for you because there's not enough girls in the country for you to date. Maybe if you weren't such a bigoted jerk then maybe you'd have a better time sticking to one girl. Better yet, maybe you would find a nice _boy_ to pull that cross out of your ass."

"Fuck off!" Gilby yelled. He went to stand up, but Marco pulled him down. "What? You heard all he just said, right?"

"I'm sorry," Marco said. I felt really bad (though still angry) when I noticed that Marco was nearly crying, but I just looked away from him. "Sorry."

"Tobias," Jake said again, "I get that you're upset about Rebecca, but you can't take it out on Marco, alright? Relax."

"Right, yeah," I said.

There was a moment of awkward silence as I tried my best to calm down. I felt really weird because I've never really felt like that before. This stupid war is getting to me a bit too much, I think.

"I'm okay," I finally said. I went over to Marco and sat down beside him. "Sorry for being such a jerk."

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too," Marco said, giving me a hug. "I really am sorry about your cousin, Tobias. I didn't mean to start a fight."

"Actually," Jake said. "You didn't actually start the fight. Gil did."

Gilby glared at him with intense hatred. "Screw you."

"I don't think Marco would approve of that."

Cassie suddenly started coughing. I think it's because she tried not to laugh and then started choking on her failure.

Gilby _blushed_ and looked at the other side of the barn. "Jerk," he muttered.

"Anyway," said Jake. "We're actually here for a reason. We need to figure out if there's anything we can do to help Rebecca. How long is she staying, Tobias?"

I shrugged. "Uh, well, I'm not sure. By the amount of clothes she packed I would have to say several years."

"Not useful," Jake told me. "Marco?"

"Huh?" Marco said dumbly. His face was even more red than Gilby's was. I'm not sure if it was because of what Jake said or if it was the fact that I put my arm over his shoulders when we hugged and never moved it.

"I was hoping for a suggestion."

"Oh. Yes. Right. Well, first of all, trying to get to her now would be a stupid thing to do. If we go to the Sharing to try and free her, not only will we be putting her in extreme danger but also everyone else there, both Controller and not, will be at risk."

"Including Tom," Jake said, nodding.

"Yes, obviously," Marco said. "Also, trying to capture her to starve the Yeerk out would also be a bad idea. We know she has three days before the Yeerk would actually starve since there's a large chance that she went to the Sharing for that reason. That being said, while we could have a repeat of what we did for Jake, we're not entirely sure when she's going back home and we definitely can't send Ax to... wherever Rebecca is from originally.

"Also, even if we did manage to free her, there's no possible way that we could keep her safe afterwards. The Yeerks didn't know that Jake was a Controller, or that even the Yeerk that infested him was even alive. Therefore, when he went back home Yeerk free, naturally they didn't notice. But if what Tobias said is true and she actually is from Canada, chances are that her Yeerk is at a decent rank. Even if she's not, being related to Tobias' father is definitely important. If her Yeerk were to die, or even if someone else was pretending to be her, they would notice right away."

"So there's nothing we can do?" I asked. "Can't we just... I don't know, kidnap her and have her disappear forever?"

"No," Marco replied. "If something happened to her the Yeerk would likely suspect us. Taking her so soon after she got here might put us and our families at risk. Freeing anyone that can be related to us at all, both friends and family, could put us at risk."

"This is why we don't ask you what to do more often, Marco," I told him. "We wouldn't ever do anything because you point out all the reasons why things wouldn't work."

"I'll think of a way to save them," Marco said. He glanced at Jake, who nodded at him.

"That's nice. Can I go home now?" Gilby asked.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here I was, worried that people would like Tobias _less_ because of his little rant last chapter. Silly me.**

**Alsooooo, the chapter after this is the last one for the mini-book and the last one to give points.**

* * *

**Enjoy!**

* * *

After the meeting where we unfortunately decided that we couldn't do anything to save Rebecca, Jake and I walked out of the barn, hand in hand.

Yes, Jake and I were holding hands. No, it was not my idea. Though I'm certainly not complaining, right?

Pretty sure Jake is just trying to comfort me, though. It's super effective.

Marco and Gilby walked past us, also leaving Cassie's barn. I waved at them. Gilby flipped me off and Marco glanced at our hands, looking uncomfortable. He still waved, though, and walked off with his brother.

"He's gay," Rachel said, scaring me peeless since I didn't notice she was right behind me. "Everyday I'm more sure."

"What?" Jake asked. "I don't think he's gay. If he's gay then you might as well say I'm gay, too."

"Says the guy holding his male friend's hand," Rachel countered.

"I think that makes me more straight," Jake said, not sounding sure.

Rachel shrugged. "I hope he is, though. Don't think I haven't forgotten about that bet, Tobias."

"I haven't," I replied. "I look forward to taking your money."

"Oh, please." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Marco has dated so many girls and hasn't had a real, lasting relationship with any of them. I look forward to taking _your_ money. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Jake said as Rachel wandered back towards Cassie's.

"Want to come with me to where I'm meeting up with Rebecca?" I asked Jake. "She'll probably be super late because she'll probably get lost even though it's literally right down the street from where the Sharing meeting is."

"That's not surprising," Jake said. "Another thing that runs in the family."

"That was mean, Jakie," I told him. "Give me my hand back."

"Okay. Your loss," Jake said truthfully.

Jake and I walked to where we were supposed to meet Rebecca. It was a really boring walk even if we did talk about Tom the entire time. We didn't talk about his Yeerkiness, though. We talked about how funny his reaction is when I walk into Jake's house without knocking and about how lame he was. Okay, _I_ talked about how lame he was.

"Hey, guys," Rebecca said after being five minutes late. "Sorry you had to wait, I sort of got turned around. Luckily, this guy helped me get here."

"What guy?" I asked.

"Well, certainly not the one standing right next to me," Rebecca said. "And, look. He's ginger and British."

"Hello," said cute British guy who's probably a Controller or about to be because of Rebecca. "I'm Francis."

"I'm Ja-"

"I'm Tobias!" I interrupted. "Oh, that's Jake."

Francis smiled at me, then turned to Rebecca. "It was nice meeting you, Rebecca." He waved at me and Jake, and then turned and walked off.

I looked at Rebecca. "He's cute."

"I know, right?" Rebecca said. "That face and that voice is probably why half the girls who show up end up staying. Plus, he's super nice even if he is a bit too obsessed with the Sharing."

All the cute boys are controllers. Except for me and Marco and Gilby and Jake and Axi. Other than them, though. Oh, well. Francis will never, ever be mentioned again anyway.

THIS ISN'T FORESHADOWING. I know I've said many times that this story would have nothing to do with Yeerks and it did, but this time I'm one-hundred percent serious.

The three of us walked home. Seriously, nothing else happened. We ditched Jake (not in a random location, at his house) and then walked home. My dad asked if we had fun and I lied and said that we did. In reality, though, I didn't have fun because Rebecca was at the Sharing being all Yeerk like while I was at Cassie's barn complaining about it and listening to my friends all agree that we couldn't do anything to save her.

We better save Rebecca before we save Tom, because we've known Rebecca was a Controller way before we knew Tom was one.

Okay, you're right, that's a lie. We'll at least have to save her at around the same time. I'll be super mad at Jake if we don't.

That's all I have to say about that. The chapter is over, bye.


	9. Chapter 9

**Last chapter, yay. After this I'll post that deleted scenes chapter. Once I do, I won't be counting any more points for this book. So if you didn't review to any of the past chapters, now would be a good time unless you honestly don't care about the points.**

**Also, while I'm thinking about it, I might as well mention that I'm getting into the habit of writing two chapters a day now, instead of one. Which means I might start posting twice a day eventually. Not today, obviously, since it's the last chapter. But you might see the deleted scenes stuff and the preview for the next chapter tomorrow. Especially since I literally just copy-paste things from Book Nine to make the preview.**

**If I keep this up I'll be able to get through a bunch of stuff I've been looking forward to doing. Like, I've literally been waiting years to do The Android and I just finished chapter thirteen of that today. Very exciting stuff.**

* * *

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Rebecca and I hung around the house during the weekend. We played with my cats (which they enjoyed) and tried to convince them to go swimming with us (they wouldn't). It was a lot of fun just staying at my house since I don't usually have other people over. I mean, Jake comes over sometimes, but mostly I go to his house.

My parents are really weird. Apparently bringing people over to hang out at my house is more dangerous than going over to a friend's house where I could easily be murdered, cut up and served for dinner. So far that hasn't happened so I'm probably fine.

I have no doubt in my mind that Gilby would try and kill me if he had the chance. That's why it's really dangerous to be around him without making sure that Marco is there, too. These are facts. I'm certainly not talking about nothing to make this chapter longer.

That doesn't sound like me at all.

"Today has been fun," I said, deciding that narrating was getting boring without any dialogue. "When are you going home, anyway?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Didn't your parents tell you?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Well, I sort of got kicked out of school for 'mouthing off' to the vice-principal. I was just defending me and my friends against her insane rules and stupidity. So my parents decided that now would be a good time to see what the schools here are like."

"Sweet, so you're staying? That's awesome as long as you don't hang out with my friends. They're mine. Plus, we're the cool kids and we have to keep up our reputation."

"That's fine. I'm actually going to a different school, though. I'm kind of disappointed about that because I met Mr. Chapman at the Sharing and he seemed really nice. My parents don't actually want me going to school with you because you're so distracting."

I nodded. "That's true. I'm so amazing that even people who are related to me can't resist my charm."

"Actually," Rebecca said. "I was talking about your annoying voice."

"Waaah," I cried. "You're mean. Maybe you should date Gilby, you'd make a good couple."

"I'm kidding."

And that's the last we ever heard of Rebecca. No, I'm just kidding.

Just so you know, everything I said before about her not becoming an Animorph? I'm still completely serious about that. I mean, obviously the Yeerk thing wasn't true since she's a Controller, but that just makes it more likely that she will never, ever be on our side.

She probably won't be in this series for a while, either. I mean, she's not going to just magically be a main character now that she's around. She'll probably be mentioned once in a while just like how Tom is mentioned.

Well, I guess I'll end this story now with an amazing speech.

People who you're related to might be Controllers. If you try and save them, the Yeerk will probably try to kill you or just turn you into a Controller. So if you find out someone you like has an alien living in their brain, your best bet would be to just ignore the problem until it goes away.

Seriously, I just pretended that Rebecca wasn't a Controller and so far it's been fine. I don't know what Jake is complaining about. Tom might act different because his Yeerk is a crappy actor, but Rebecca's Yeerk seems to be acting the same.

Since I'm ignoring the problem, I'm one-hundred percent sure that Rebecca's Yeerk will eventually just leave and then she'll be free again. I can't wait until that happens. Until then, nothing at all bad will happen involving Rebecca.

In all seriousness, though, something will probably happen in ten books or so. Maybe less, maybe more. Depends really.

Oh, and Jake? If you happen to read this, the kitty porn is hidden in your old math textbook.

Sorry for the boring last chapter. I'll see you again in a freakingly short amount of time.

Does the fourth wall even exist anymore?


	10. Deleted Scenes

**Guys, I've made a terrible mistake. It's so huge that none of you may ever forgive me.**

**In the last chapter, I accidentally made a reference to something that happened in one of these deleted scenes. Yes, that's right. The part where Tobias mentioned kitty porn last chapter was actually a reference to something that got cut out. **

**MY BAD. Don't worry, though. The scene is below, after all.**

**Keep in mind that I wrote all this before I really knew what I wanted Rebecca to be like AND while I had no idea where I was going with the plot.**

* * *

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Someday, man. Someday. As I was saying, though. You guys are literally the only friends I've ever had. Maybe I should go meet new people."

"Maybe you should join The Sharing," Marco suggested.

"I wish. If it wasn't for the whole, you know, and the fact I'm not allowed to go, I'd totally join."

"Other than Marco, does anyone even do anything out of school where they can make friends?" Cassie asked.

"I'm in a gang," Gilby supplied.

"Yeah, we both are," I said. "It's called the Animorphs."

After I said that, we had a huge argument over whether or not we should consider ourselves a gang. In the end, we decided that no, we were not, since we didn't have matching tattoos.

* * *

"Please don't join my group of friends and date the only single guy in our group."

"Um, okay? I wasn't going to," she said. "I was going to date Jake."

"Nooo," I gasped. "Jake belongs with Cassie. Who do you think you are, ruining their future relationship?"

"I'm sorry," Rebecca said. "I couldn't help it, he's just so cute."

"Don't even talk to me."

"What," my dad said.

"Nothing, we're joking," I told him. "I'm going to go introduce Becca to my friends now that I know she's not going to seduce them."

"Uh, okay," Dad said. "Bye."

"Bye!"

* * *

"That house looks exactly like the house we just went passed," Rebecca said, pointing at a house that did, in fact, look like the one we just passed. "Are we going in circles?"

Rebecca and I were on our way to visit the Jake Jacobson. Even though we could have gotten into a car, we were dumb and just ran out, leaving us to the extremely long walk through creepy wood-like places and going out of our way to avoid the 58348two405840 abandoned construction sites that just happened to be between my house and Jake's.

"Nah," I told her. "We just happen to walk through random portals in space and time that take us back to places we've already walked by."

Rebecca started dying because I'm funny.

By the time we got to Jake's house she was fine again. After Rebecca asked me if I was sure this wasn't a house that looked like Jake's house, I opened the door and walked in.

Rebecca said, "odifjODIJFOSIDJf." I just ignored her, though.

"Honey, I'm home!" I called.

"Damn it!" I heard Tom yell from the other room. "Knock!"

I shrugged. "Come on, Becca. Jake's room is this way." Instead of heading straight up to Jake's room, I took the long way which uselessly took us through the house and past Tom.

"Jaaaaaake," I sang, jumping into his room and scaring him. "Surprised?"

"You almost crushed my feet," Jake complained.

"This is Rebecca," I said, ignoring him completely. "You can't date her because she's my cousin."

"You're constantly flirting with _my_ cousin."

"That's besides the point. Rebecca, this is Jake."

"Hey there, buddy. I've heard a lot aboot ya, eh?" Rebecca said in a weird/awesome accent.

"Uh, yeah," Jake replied, looking confused.

"I'm kidding, we don't really talk like that," she said. "Good thing, eh?"

"..."

"What?"

"You just said 'eh'."

"Oops. Uh. About?"

I smiled at Jake. "She's great, isn't she? Oh, and watch this."

I walked past Rebecca and intentionally bumped into her.

"Sorry," she said.

"Hehehe," I laughed. "Isn't that great?"

"What? What I do?" Rebecca asked. "Did I say 'eh' again?"

"Nope. We should go to Cassie's. She has a lot of cool animals we can play with," I told Rebecca.

"We can't play with the animals, Tobias," Jake pointed out. "They're wild and injured."

"Only if you follow the rules."

"No, pretty sure they're still injured whether you follow the rules or not," Jake argued. "We can go see them still."

"You're not fun," I whined. "Fine. We'll go play with the tigers then."

"Or no," Jake said. To Rebecca he said, "I swear, I can't tell if he's serious about all the bad ideas he has. If I wasn't around to stop him from doing stuff then he would be dead."

"Like you don't help me do stupid stuff, Mr. Let's-put-metal-in-the-mircowave."

"We were six!"

Rebecca frowned at me. "Didn't you want to put metal in my mircowave when we were eight?"

Yes. "I have no memory of that."

So the three of us headed off to Cassie's house. The entire conversation there was pretty boring stuff. While I'd like to put it all in here to take up space and make the chapters longer, I'm not going to do that because not only am I not supposed to break the fourth wall, but also I forget everything they said because Jake is ugly.

Logic.

* * *

Naturally, the first person I wanted to introduce Rebecca to was Jake Jacobson. So we went to his house, said hello to Tom after walking in (without knocking, of course) and went up to Jake room.

"Jaaaake," I said, knocking on his bedroom door. "I have a surprise for you."

"Is the surprise the knocking?" Jake said from inside his batcave.

"Nope." I opened the door and pulled Rebecca in. "Jake, this is Rebecca."

"Hey," he said, acting as if nothing was special about this at all.

"Uh, _the_ Rebecca."

"You've never mentioned anyone named Rebecca before," Jake lied.

"My cousin!" I yelled, stabbing Jake in the face. "I talk about her all the time."

"Oh, her," Jake said rudely and stupidly. "You've never told me her name even after I've asked. I assumed she was made up."

"I'm hurt. Anyway, Becca, this is best friend Jake."

"I've heard a lot about you," Rebecca said. "Mostly bad things."

"Asdfghjkl," I said. "Stop telling each other things that are supposed to be secret."

"Okay. For now on I won't tell anyone anything you've told me," Rebecca promised.

I'm going to skip ahead now because I'm bored of this part. We just talked a lot about random stuff that probably would help develop Rebecca's character, but I don't feel like putting it all down so I'll just skip ahead to us leaving. Well, trying to leave. Tom the Yeerk Brother stopped us on our way out.

"Hey," Tom greeted Yeerkishly. "Who's this?"

"I'm Rebecca, Tobias' cousin," she told him, unaware of his Yeerkiness. "You're... Tom? Hey, what's that?" Rebecca pointed at some evil Yeerk fliers that Tom was holding.

"Oh, just some stuff from this group I'm in. It's called the Sharing. Maybe you should check it out while you're here," Tom eviled.

"No need, I'm already a member. Are you a full member?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, actually. Are you?"

"Of course. I love the Sharing. Is there a meeting coming up? I'd like to tag along and see what it's like down here."

Jake and I exchanged a very dramatic look that Tom and Rebecca hopefully didn't notice. I wanted to say "uh-oh" or something along those lines, but that would have been suspicious.

"Can I come?" I said, causing all of the animals in Cassie's barn to die from my stupidity.

"You don't have to go just because I'm going," Rebecca said.

I shrugged. "Well, now that I know for sure it's not just Tom sitting around being his lame self it seems like it might be safe to go just once. Without telling my dad, though. He'll flip."

"Tom doesn't seen that bad," Rebecca said.

Tom frowned. "I'm not lame," Tom lied. "There's a meeting tonight, if you guys want to go."

"Cool, we'll be there," I said. "Now we're leaving, though.

The three of us left and started to walk to Marco and Gilby's house, since that's where we were going to go before Tom Yeerkington ruined my entire existance.

Also, as a sidenote, I'm not sure why Jake and Tom have different last names, though I'm about eighty-three percent sure that Jake is adopted.

I tried to act completely normal on the walk to the twins' house, but guys, come on. If you just found that that it was a really good possibility that your favourite (only) cousin was a Controller, you'd be pretty freaked out, too.

I could totally tell that Jake was having the same problem as I was, except it was easier for him since he was used to being around Yeerks since he gave Tom over to them in exchange for the ability to turn into animals.

It might appear that an alien gave us those abilities, but I'm pretty certain that Jake made a deal with Satan in order to give us a fighting chance. It was nice of him, really. But he could have given up someone we don't like. Andy, for example. Or Tap-Tap. Or Gilby. Any of them, yeah, fine. Give their souls and/or freedom to the darklord.

Well, nah. Tom is fine. Better, actually, now that he's not hogging Jake all the time.

Seriously, though. Rebecca. Ugggh.

* * *

We got to the twins' house. We didn't get lost or anything, and even if we did it would be understandable because they just moved, so don't judge me.

"Finally, I thought we would never get here," Jake said even though we didn't get lost so what he said made no sense. He's sort of dumb sometimes, so a lot of things he says doesn't makes sense.

Wait, I'm narrating. Pretend this paragraph and the last didn't happen, okay?

"I'm glad we got here okay without getting lost or anything," Jake said, making perfect sense because we didn't get lost.

Jake lead the way to the door and knocked. Pissed-Marco (AKA Gilby), answered the door. "What?" he greeted rudely.

For some reason, I don't think Gilby likes me very much. I'm always nice to him and I never annoy him or anything. He must be jealous of how amazing I am, I can't think of another reason.

"Rude," I pointed out, pushing past everyone to enter the house.

"Hey, get out!"

I looked around until I found Marco, who was sitting at a table in the kitchen (I guess they don't have a dining room, how lame) doing work or something.

"Hello, Tobias," Marco said without even looking at me. "Jake. There are drinks in the fridge if you want some. Coke and 7-Up, I think."

See, this is how Gilby should have greeted us. Marco is really nice, offering us drinks even though we all just sort of entered his house without permission. Not just without permission, but after we were told to get out by the rudest person on Earth. Gilby, not Jake, by the way.

"Sweet. Also, this is my cousin Rebecca," I told him. "This is Marco and the mean one is Gilby, but he doesn't like to be called that so unless you want him to be more mean you should call him Gilberto or Gilbert."

"Hi, Rebecca," Marco said. Then he looked up. "Rebecca?"

"Hey." She waved at him.

"Okay, hold that thought." I went over to Marco, who had stood up in surprise, I guess. New people scared him, because he's cute like that. "Talk to her while we talk to Gilby, okay?"

"Sure."

"Also," I added quietly. "She's a full member of The Sharing. Like Tom."

"Okay."

Jake and I forced Gilby to come with us into the other room so we could talk without Rebecca hearing us. This idea was really good, because Marco is so loud that we couldn't be heard over him even if he was whispering to Rebecca.

Seriously, though, I think we were fine.

"This better be interesting," Gilby said.

"Rebecca is a Controller," Jake told him.

"You left Tobias' Controller cousin alone with my brother?" he demanded. "You fucking dumbass."

"Marco can handle himself."

"Marco isn't important. Rebecca is important. What do I do?" I asked.

"Offer to go to The Sharing with her and die?" Gilby suggested.

"I already did," I said. "Offer, I mean. I'm not dead."

Gilby gave me a look like I was stupid. "Well, good going. Maybe you should have gotten me to distract your stupid cousin instead of the only smart person."

"... Good point. Let's go."

The three of us went back to the kitchen to switch in the dumb twin with the smart twin.

"Hey, Tobias," Rebecca said. "I know you said I wasn't allowed to date you friends, but can I date this one?"

"NO," Gilby and I both said.

"I can make new friends," Marco suggested.

"NO," Gilby said again. He grabbed Marco's arm and forced him to leave the room. I followed them. Jake stayed since he wasn't being helpful at all anyway.

"Marco, that's Tobias' cousin you were flirting with," Gilby pointed out.

"So?" he asked. "That doesn't bother me."

"Tobias' cousin is a _Controller_."

"So?" he repeated. "She's still a girl."

"Aren't you dating Melissa Chapman?" I asked.

"Not anymore."

"Then you should be sad about your break-up."

Marco looked confused. "Why would I be upset about breaking up with Melissa? I should be more upset about breaking up with Ashley, shouldn't I?"

"WHO IS ASHLEY?" I demanded. "Never mind. I need a plan and all I have is go to The Sharing."

"I'll go with you," Marco the womanizer offered.

"What? No, you're not," Gilby argued. "You're not going to The Sharing to get a girl _especially_ when you know that girl has an alien in her brain."

"Fine. I'm still going, though."

"Okay," I said. "That makes me feel better about going, then."

"What point of 'no' don't you people understand?" Gilby asked.

"'No?' What is this 'no' of which you speak?" said Tobias. That's me, in case you've forgotten my name.

"I've heard of it," Marco replied. "I think it's another word for yes."

"Oh, okay. So we're going to The Sharing, right?" I asked.

"No," Marco answered.

Gilby looked from one of us to the other. He had a look on his face that was a cross between fear, confusion and disgust.

"Jake!?" Gilby said suddenly. "Your best friend has contaminated my best friend!"

"Sorry!" Jake yelled from the kitchen.

* * *

Marco the womanizer wasn't able to convince Gilby that going to The Sharing wasn't that bad of an idea. So in the end Marco and I decided to go behind his (and Jake's) back and go anyway, because we're all really good friends who totally never lie unless we need to.

The two of us made up really bad lies about what we were doing. Marco told Gilby that he was going to hang out with his friend (which was true, actually, but Marco apparently acted really offended when Gilby asked him what friend) and I told Jake that I was hanging out with Tom and that if he followed me I would lie to his parents and tell him he had a porn stash and back it up with evidence.

I think it was less him worried about me telling his parents anything and more me potentionally hiding porn in his room. I'm certain he'll spend the rest of his night looking for it.

Just for your information, there is porn hidden in his room. By porn I mean I took a bunch of bad, 'sexy' pictures of my cats. He'll never find it, though.

Anyway, so Marco and I went with Rebecca outselves. It did occur to us that we could bring Rachel or Cassie and Axi with us, but it would have taken too long to collect them, so it was just the three of us.

Rebecca and I ended up walking from my house to where The Sharing meeting was being held. Normally I would ask for a ride (or fly, but obviously I couldn't do that with Rebecca around), but I would have gotten in huge trouble.

"I like your friends," Rebecca commented. "Marco is really nice."

"Did he flirt with you when I left the room?" I asked. "Because that's weird."

"I flirted back," she said, acting like saying that would make the flirting thing less awkward. "Does it count as seducing if he flirted first?"

"Not if it's behind the scenes," I told her. "That way we know it's not anything serious."

"Oh, it definitely was, don't worry."

* * *

"This is a bad idea," I realized.

"You think?" Gilby snapped rudely.

It was later that same day and Gilby, Marco, Jake and I went to The Sharing meeting with Rebecca and Tom. The entire time they were generally Yeerky. Meaning they were nice and happy and acting like they were having the time of their lives. Playing their pool and their videogames. Eating their food and drinking their... drinks.

"The people here are weird," Rebecca said even though she's a Yeerk and should be all for their weirdness. "I came here to have fun, not to be harassed by how nice and perfect they are."

"It is unsettling," Marco admitted.

"Yeah, I guess they'll have to leave the recruiting to me, huh?" Rebecca said jokingly. "So, since Tobias isn't even allowed to be here, which of you three want to be hassled into joining?"

"Not Marco," Gilby said instantly.

"Yeah, actually, he's right," Marco agreed. "I'd love to join, but I'm so busy with other things that I couldn't possibly juggle it all."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at us. "Do you guys even want to join or are you just here because of me?"

"It's not that no one wants to join..." I lied. "It's just that no one wants to... join."

"I see," Rebecca said. "Well, I think the full member meeting is starting soon, so I'm going to head over there. You guys should play one of the games or something."

Rebecca turned and headed towards where I guess the full members go.


	11. Book Nine Preview

**A little later than I wanted, but I got distracted. Almost sorry. I'll hopefully be posting the next book at around the usual time I post chapters. That is, right after I finish writing my chapter(s) of the day. Unless I have trouble with the summary and stuff, which happens more often than it doesn't.**

**Naturally, next book there will be points and questions. Also, as for the extras for Book Eight? Well, I started one, so already I'm more ahead than usual.**

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**Enjoy!**

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"Go away, Cassie. Go away, go away, go away, I am not going to morph a spider. You can morph a spider. I don't like spiders."

Jake gave Gil a look. "Gilbert, Cassie always gets stuck doing the new morphs. Besides, this is more your mission than anyone else's."

"What? Why?" Gil yelled, clueless to the fact that he was still right next to my ear. "Why is this my mission more than yours or Rachel's? Or Tobias'? He's not even here!"

"Yes, I am," I heard Tobias mutter from behind us.

Jake shrugged. "Erek is your friend."

"My friend? When did I ever say he was my friend? I recall saying 'Marco's friend Erek' and 'I hate Erek'. Never that he was my friend! Tell them, Marco."

Gil grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I shrugged him off. "Knock it off."

"Gilbert, you're such a wuss," Rachel said.

"Hey, you want to be a spider?"

Rachel shrugged slightly. "Sure. If I draw the short straw, I've love to go spider."

"Look, you don't have to do this," Jake said. "It's just that we're going to be infiltrating a meeting of The Sharing. The Yeerks are totally on alert of animal morphs. We have to fit into the environment of the lake. Whatever morphs we use have to belong there. We can't be showing up there as lions and tigers and bears."

"Oh, my," Cassie interjected.

"We need good vision, but not standard mammal-type eyes. And we can't all go in at the same time. I want two people to hang back as a rescue squad in case we get into a mess. Ax has to go because we need him to see if he can figure out what Erek is. Ax is going in as a spider, and we need someone to go with him."

"Has anyone told him about this?"

"He was here earlier. While you were sleeping in late. He said he thought a spider's body was much more sensible than a human's body," Cassie said. "His exact words were, 'Ah, good. With eight legs it won't fall over like a human'."

"Be glad we waited for you at all," Rachel growled. "Just draw a straw."

Jake had six pieces of hay in his fist. There was no way to tell which was the shortest one.

"Let me pick first," Gil said. "If I choose first, my odds are just one in six."

Gil took a deep breath, reached out and yanked up a straw. He stared, shocked, at the short straw. "What the fuck," he said, looking might he might burst into tears.

I covered my mouth with my hand. Because I was concerned for him, certainly not because I was hiding the fact that I was almost laughing.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You know, if you're going to be a big baby, I'll do it."

"Just because I'm not a reckless idiot doesn't mean I'm a wuss," Gil snapped. "I've never chickened out on a morph yet and I'm not starting now."

To which Rachel replied with a very calm, "Okay." Gil glared at her.

Cassie held out the spider. "It's not bad," she said. "I morphed the spider yesterday, just to see what it was like. Charlotte's Web was one of my favourite books."

"It would be," Gil muttered.

Gil slowly reached out a finger to touch the spider. "Right, it's not bad," he said, repeating Cassie's words. "Not that bad at all." He nodded his head and pulled his finger away. "This is how you must have felt yesterday."

"What?" I asked.

Suddenly, Gil collapsed onto the ground. Everyone, including me, just stared at him.

"Ouch," Tobias said. "Why did he pass out?"

"He's arachnophobic, clearly. But, um, I might have made it a lot worse than it used to be. If any of you woke up to a bed full of spiders at a younger age, you would have fainted as well."

"Ow, my head," Gil moaned. "Marco."

"Don't worry, Gil. I'll morph the spider for you."


End file.
